Sealing capacity of different materials for the reclamation of cracked concrete fish tanks

The sealing capacity of latex sealant and Portland cement for the reclamatiOn of cracked concrete fish tanks was investigated for a period of three months. Concrete fish tanks (5m x 5m x lm) were divided into duplicate treatments (T1 and T2). The latex sealant was utilized in treatment 1 (T1) while Portland cement was utilized in treatment 2 (T2). The tanks were initially filled with water and the seepage rates were determined within five days and results showed that the rate of seepage was very high which led to the abandonment of the tanks. The surfaces of the tanks were cleaned thoroughly before the application of the sealant and cement. In Tl, the sealant was mixed in a ratio of 1:4:7 (sealant: water: cement) and applied with brush in two layers before the mortar was finally applied. The Portland cement was also mixed in a ratio of 1:3 (cement: plaster sand) and applied on the other two tanks in T2. The tanks were filled with water after curing for one week. The seepage rate determined in Tl was 4mm per day when the weather was clear (sunny) which may be as a result of water loss by evaporation while the seepage rate determined in T2 shows a continuous decrease of 12mm every 24 hours, irrespective of weather condition

A Study of Extracranial Aneurysms at UNTH in Enugu, Nigeria

Previous studies on aneurysms in Nigeria have either been case reports or studies of peripheral aneurysms. No study has comprehensively evaluated all aspects of this disease as an entity among Nigerians. The need therefore arises to re-evaluate this lesion so as to make deductions on incidence, sex ratio, aetiology and management. This is a retrospective descriptive study of arterial aneurysms at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu. Those treated between January 1993 and December 2002 were included for the study. Datawere obtained frommedical records for all patients admittedwith aneurysms over the study period. Atotal of 26 patientswere admitted during the period, but 24 case noteswere analysed. The age rangewas 10-75 yearswithmale: female ratio of 1.4:1. Traumatic pseudo aneurysms accounted for 16 cases (67.0%)while true aneurysms comprised the remaining.Of all the aneurysms, femoral artery with most of the pseudo aneurysms had 8 out of 24 (33.0%).This is followed by the infra-renal abdominal aorta (5/24, 21.0%) and other sites (11/24, 46.0%). Diagnoses were made clinically in most cases and by abdominal ultrasonography in abdominal aortic aneurysms. Twenty-one patients had surgical interventionwith 9.5% operativemortality. The incidence of aneurysm is low in our locality (2.6/year) based on the rate of diagnosis.Abdominal aorta harbours most of the true aneurysms with diameter ranging from 8.0-15.0cm without rupture. Untreated, all will eventually rupture with catastrophic consequences. Treatment involved excision with graft interposition. This is not only expensive but the graft is often not readily available. As a solution, grafts should be stocked with drug revolving fund.Keywords: trauma, true and pseudo aneurys

Histology types of chest wall tumours: Fifteen year single center experience

Background/Objective: Chest wall tumours are not uncommon.They are regarded as malignant until otherwise proven.The objective of this study is to analyze the histological variants in our institution and compare same with relevant data available in the literature.Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective study of chest wall tumours at our institution(NCTCE, UNTH, Enugu, Nigeria), for a period of 15 years, spanning October, 2001 to September, 2015.The pathologic reports were retrieved from the hospital pathology archives and correlated with patients' copies in the hospital record.The lesions were classified as primary and secondary based on the clinical and radiological data as well as the histological reports.Results:A total of 158 chest wall tumours were identified in 158 patients with a mean age range of (45 +/- 6). The male to female ratio was  1:1.1(male = 74,46.84% and female =84, 53.16%). There were 81  primary chest wall tumours, out of which benign soft chest wall tumour was 50(61.73%) and malignant soft chest wall tumour was 13(16.05%).The benign bone and cartilage chest wall tumour accounted for 1(1.23%) and malignant component was 17(20.99%).The secondary chest wall tumours studied were 77, out of which 30(38.96%) were  invasive and 47(61.04%) were metastatic Conclusion:The commonest primary malignant chest wall tumour was malignant fibrous histocytoma while the most common secondary chest wall tumours seen in this study was mostly metastatic epithelial  neoplasms.Key words: chest wall,tumour,histology,malignant

Water quality and growth performance of Oreochromis niloticus under integration with mallard and muscovy ducks

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of duck manure and spilled duvk weed on water quality and production of Oreochromis niloticus in an intigrated system utilizing two loacl duck weed breeds. Treatment 1 (T1) consist of fish (mean weight, 20.7 ~c 1.28g) stocked at a density of 5 fish/m2 pond and integrated with 12 mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchas); treatment 2 (T2) consist of fish (mean weight, 21.86 ~c 0.93g) stocked at a density of 5 fish/m2 pon and integrated with 12 Muscovy ducks (Cairina moschata) with treatment 3 (T3) was the control (72m2 fish pond without integration). Fish with treatment two was fed compounded feed of 30% crude protein content three times daily while those in T1, T2 fed on duck manure and spilled duck feed (15% crude protein content). Water quality parameter of the fish pond, growth parameters of the fish and duck were monitored. After a 12-week experimental period, mean weight gain of fish were 140.68, 122.11 and 157.19g in T1, T2 and T3 respectively, while percentage survival was high in T3 and lower in T2. Water quality parameter was generally favorable for fish growth in the treatment. Mallard ducks are recommended for the duck-fish system since they perform better than Muscovey duck both in survivability and ability to engender fish growth

Sonographic assessment of liver dimension among school aged children in Calabar, South-South Nigeria

Background: One of the organs readily assessed during abdominal scanning is the liver and this is due to the wide range of diseases associated with changes in liver size. Ultrasound scan remains a very important modality for liver evaluation because it is simple, not expensive, non-invasive and readily available but yet there is no record of ultrasound measurement of liver sizes among school - age children in Calabar.Method: Four hundred and seventy apparently healthy school-age children (3-14 years) were studied. 244(52%) were females, mean age 8.2±1.6 years and 226(48%) were males, mean age 8.0±1.4 years. Liver size of the subjects was measured sonographically in the right midclavicular line to determine anteroposterior (AP) and longitudinal diameters of the liver. Biodata of the subjects (sex, age, height, weight and body mass index (BMI) were evaluated prospectively .The subjects were divided into four groups according to age, sex, height and weight.Results: The mean AP and longitudinal diameter of the liver for males was 102.5±7.3mm and 130.9±7.4mm respectively and that of females was 98.3±6.6mm and 121.0±5.1mm respectively. Age, height and BMI significantly correlated with the longitudinal and AP diameter of the liver (r > 0.5, P < 0.002).Conclusion: School age children in Calabar have a mean AP diameter of liver as 100.3±7.3mm with a range of 75.2-129mm and a mean longitudinal diameter of liver as 125.0±10.4mm with a range of 100 - 158mm.Keywords: liver, sonography, diameter, midclavicular line

Allocative Efficiency and Returns to Scale among Fadama II Broiler Farmers in Imo State, Nigeria

This study investigated the efficiency of resource use and Returns to Scale among broiler farmers in Imo State. Data were collected through a multi-stage sampling from 50 broiler farmers in the State with the aid of structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Efficiency Index, Elasticity of Production technique and the Ordinary Least Square Regression model. The results from this study showed that 68% of the respondents engaged in farming as their primary occupation with mean age of 47.1 years and mean farm size of 563 birds. The farmers made an average Net Revenue of N291,192.10 with 66Kobo Return on Investment. Medication (significant at 1%), farm size (significant at 5%), feed and other inputs (significant at 1%) were the major factors affecting broiler output. The farmers operated at increasing Returns to Scale with 1.1408 Elasticity of Production (EP). It was concluded that broiler enterprise among the Fadama II farmers in Imo State is profitable but there is inefficiency in resource allocation. It was therefore recommended that the farmers either keep labour constant and increase their farm size or keep the farm size constant and decrease their use of labour input for increased profitability of their enterprises. Keywords: Allocative efficiency, Returns to Scale, broiler production, Fadama II farmer

Preoperative investigations of open heart surgical patients: our current institutional protocol (1)

Background: Open heart surgery is one of the complex procedures physicians undertake in modern medicine. It requires high tech equipment, special infrastructure and highly skilled manpower, especially in the areas of cardiology, cardiac surgery, anaesthesiology and cardiac perfusion. Preoperative diagnosis must be accurate and patients’ safety determined in order that appropriate informed consent is given. In open heart surgery, our institution developed preoperative assessment protocol. They are clinical evaluation and preoperative investigations.The objective of this study is to highlight our institutional preoperative investigative protocol and compare same with what is available in the literature.Materials and Method: In our institution, the first open heart surgery was done in 1974. We performed a retrospective review of the preoperative investigation protocols from 1974 to 2016, spanning a period of 42 years noting the changes and outcome of the changes. The 42 years of cardiac surgery activity occurred in 3 phases: 1. from 1974 – 2000; 2. 2003; 3. 2013 – 2016. Data were obtained from our hospital Record Department. The types of the preoperative investigative protocol and outcome of the changes were analyzed using Microsoft excel and results expressed in arithmetic percentages and presented in tables and bar chart.Results: These investigations are broadly divided into diagnostic and patient’s fitness assessment investigations. The diagnostic investigations aid proper clinical evaluations and are used in evaluating congenital heart defects and acquired heart diseases. In addition, fitness assessment tests have two functions and they are 1. determining the risks of postoperative morbidity and mortality from patients’ co-morbidities and the systemic effects of the cardiac disease(s). 2. Predicting the postoperative support that may be required in order to maximize the chances of uneventful surgery. The diagnostic and fitness investigations guide the quartet (cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, cardiac anaesthetist and cardiac perfusionist) in making appropriate management decisions especially with regard to complex congenital heart defects and complex cardiac cases in the elderly, discussed in the setting of cardiac team meetings.Conclusion: Preoperative investigations form part of an intrinsic preoperative checklist to ensure where possible uneventful surgery. When they are holistically done and accurate diagnosis is made including patients properly worked up via-a-vis the results of the investigations, the outcome is bound to be favourable.Keywords: complex, congenital, diagnostic, preoperative, investigatio

Electre Methods: Main Features and Recent Developments

We present main characteristics of Electre family methods, designed for multiple criteria decision aiding. These methods use as a preference model an outranking relation in the set of actions - it is constructed in result of concordance and non-discordance tests involving a specific input preference information. After a brief description of the constructivist conception in which the Electre methods are inserted, we present the main features of these methods. We discuss such characteristic features as: the possibility of taking into account positive and negative reasons in the modeling of preferences, without any need for recoding the data; using of thresholds for taking into account the imperfect knowledge of data; the absence of systematic compensation between "gains" and "losses". The main weaknesses are also presented. Then, some aspects related to new developments are outlined. These are related to some new methodological developments, new procedures, axiomatic analysis, software tools, and several other aspects. The paper ends with conclusions

Experience With The Management Of unusual Penetrating Chest Injury

The presentation shows how a victim of fall from height in the bush can sustain a penetrating chest injury on a dry stick of a shrub. Applications on the principles of management of penetrating chest injury is needed despite the grotesque clinical appearance. [Jnl College of Medicine Vol.7(1) 2002: 40-42

Effects of light intensity and photoperiod on growth, lipid accumulation and fatty acid composition of Desmodesmus subspicatus LC172266 under photoautotrophic cultivation

Microalgae oil accumulation in their natural growing states hardly reaches the quantities needed to replace fossil-derived diesel. Therefore, for algae to be used as biofuel feedstock, their growths are manipulated with the aim of achieving high cell density and high lipid accumulation. Two major factors affecting microalgal biomass and lipid productivity are light intensity and photoperiod. In the present study, Desmodesmus subspicatus was grown photoautotrophically under varying light intensities and photoperiods with a view to assessing the growth, lipid accumulation potential and fatty acid composition. Whereas the optimal light intensity for biomass production of the microalga was 5000 lx, that for lipid productivity was 3500 lx. At 5000 lx and 18: 6 h light/dark cycle, biomass yield, lipid content and lipid productivity were highest, at values of 1.92 ± 0.03 g/L, 53% and 118.80 ± 2.04 mgL-1day -1 respectively. The major fatty acid of the alga was oleic acid irrespective of light changes. The quantities of lipid accumulated and the properties of the fatty acid methyl esters showed that Desmodesmus subspicatus LC172266 is an ideal feedstock for biodiesel production